Moonstruck After Death
by roseweasleygamgee
Summary: The Troublesome Trio's 16, complications arise between them. When one of Hogwarts's resident ghosts steps in, what happens?(F.Y.I. Moonstruck means: 1. crazed; lunatic 2. romantically dreamy, and it's totally me!)
1. Memories and Anticipation

Disclaimer: Any thing that you clearly recognize is not mine; any thing that you vaguely recognize might be mine, anything that's completely and totally new belongs to me (most of the time. Thank you Ms. Rowling for your wonderful characters.  
  
**Yay, if you're reading this, I pray you continue reading. I also hope you enjoy what you read, because a story isn't worth anything without the reader. **  
  
Chapter 1 Memories and Anticipation  
  
Willow awoke with a start. It had been a long time since she'd ever had a dream. She looked around, wondering where she was. When she remembered she was surprised she'd forgotten. After all, she'd lived there for fifteen long years.  
  
She looked at the small calendar on her wall; and remembered what day it was. She'd been waiting for this day for two tedious years; since Fred and George left. They were the funniest people she'd been around in years. After they'd left she simply hung out with their younger brother Ron and his friends. They'd always been younger than she had been; finally they were her age!  
  
She approached the full-length mirror, which Dumbledore had graciously given her, along with her own, small room. She fingered her loose red curls lightly, admiring the brown highlights that ran through them. Her hair was her pride and joy, and she still loved it; though now it was translucent. She was glad that it had retained most of its color instead of becoming invisible, like most of her skin (her freckles hadn't). She smiled at herself, glad that she looked so nice today.  
  
She drifted lazily toward the Great Hall, feeling as if she'd explode with anticipation. As she arrived, she noticed how empty it was. Looking at the ceiling, she noticed that the sun had barely risen, leaving the sky a light pink, tinged with blue. The only other person in there was Peeves. "Hello Peeves, good morning. I suppose that you're looking even more forward to this than me."  
  
"Oh, why hello Willow. And I suppose you could say so." He cackled mischievously. He was floating around, setting up his little traps for the new and returning students. She could have done something to stop him, most of the others would have, but she liked Peeves. He was fun, not sad and depressing like most of the other ghosts. And, he was the most colorful spirit at Hogwarts. Willow had a theory about color retainment. The more color that you kept after your death, the more spirited (no pun intended) you were. Peeves was the only spirit she knew who tried to keep his after- life interesting.  
  
"How many of those little traps do you have set up?" She asked giggling, "And do you need any help with the rest? I'm bored out of my mind."  
  
"Well, let's just say I've got a few more, I know how much you like those fleshies. And, I would really appreciate the help, but then it wouldn't be a surprise for you."  
  
"It's okay, I understand." He had a point, she probably would have informed some of the students. Willow waved good bye as she exited, laughing in anticipation.  
  
She didn't really have any ideas on where to go next, so she wandered. Finally an idea struck her. She turned on her heel and headed for a particularly flooded girl's bathroom.  
  
"Hey, . Myrtle? Are you here?" She called as she entered to surprising silence.  
  
"Why, hello Willow." Myrtle wafted out of her favorite stall, her eyes surprisingly dry.  
  
"So I suppose you're looking forward to the student's arrival as well?"  
  
"Why, yes actually. I think I'll be visiting Harry this year, we haven't talked since two years ago; I'm starting to miss him." Her voice still sounds like she's on the verge of crying, even when she's not going to.  
  
Willow didn't have the heart to tell Myrtle that Harry didn't like her. "Good luck with that." Was all that she did have the heart to say. She turned to leave; Myrtle was always dull company, even when she wasn't crying; Willow's guess was it was the great age difference.  
  
Myrtle didn't seem to notice, as she was too excited about Harry's arrival.  
  
Willow decided to daydream. So she went back to her room, and lay on the bed, cradling her head in her arms. She went back to the first time she'd met Ron, Hermionie, and the famous Harry Potter.  
  
*~* Just About Six Years Back *~*  
  
It was just after The Troublesome Trio had seen Fluffy for the first time.  
  
Willow could hear voices coming up the stairway to the dormitories. She was taking over watch for Sir Nicholas, seeing as he was one of her favorite friends and deserved a break. She could hear Hermionie talking about the mysterious trap door. (Even the ghosts were not allowed in on the secret.) Listening to her tell these two boys off was rather amusing. She faded into the background, as it was one of her most practiced talents.  
  
"Now, I'm going to bed before either of you comes up with another clever idea to get us killed, or worse, expelled." And with that Hermionie turned and stalked off into the dormitories behind her.  
  
"She needs to sort out her priorities." Ron commented to Harry, who only nodded in agreement. They turned to enter the dormitories behind them, and Ron almost walked through Willow.  
  
"She's right you know."  
  
Ron and Harry remained silent, it was clear she'd scared them. She couldn't suppress her giggles. "If you got expelled, you'd have to live with it for the rest of your life."  
  
"Uh, that's great. can we get through?" Harry asked.  
  
"Oh why sure." Willow stated, giggling harder. It was clear Harry and Ron didn't understand what she'd found so funny.  
  
She leaned against the wall between the dormitories, waiting for something. Her smile grew as she got it, loud screams and shouts of offense issued from the two dormitories, as members of the opposite gender intruded upon their occupiers. Harry, Ron, and Hermionie ran across the separating hallway, all three of them as bright red as a sunburned lobster in July.  
  
*~* Back To the Present Moment *~*  
  
Willow's smile stretched all the way across her face as she remembered this funny memory.  
  
Her eyes closed and the recollection of her favorite memory with these three merged into a dream. (Yet it somehow remained true to the past.)  
  
*~* Just About Five Years Earlier (The End of The Troublesome Three's First Year) *~*  
  
Willow had sneakily followed her favorite first years as they followed their instincts down the mysterious trap door.  
  
She'd managed to keep herself hidden until Ron had been knocked out. Harry and Hermionie seemed uncomfortable about leaving him there by himself. Willow materialized, floating cross-legged in the air, eye level with the two. "I'll watch him. Don't worry, he'll be safe. You need to catch Mr. Traitor up there." She pointed ahead, indicating the direction they needed to go.  
  
Harry sighed, as if he hadn't wanted to take his other best friend with him and risk her life as well. Now he had no choice.  
  
"Thank you." Hermionie told her, and walked ahead.  
  
Harry looked at Willow, who'd wafted to the ground and was now kneeling next to Ron. "Don't let anything happen to him." The usually polite tone in his voice had vanished, and was replaced by a loud, commanding one.  
  
She felt slightly intimidated, even though she was older than he was. "I won't. Don't you worry, you've got the harder task." He followed Hermionie, seemingly convinced. Willow could see him shaking, and felt all of her good wishes go out to him.  
  
She was left in silence, just her, Ron, and the chess pieces. Willow made herself physically solid and placed Ron's head upon her lap. She was waiting for him to awake. She hummed to pass her time, brushing his hair away from his face with her fingers.  
  
She was so entranced that she didn't notice, a few minutes later, when Ron came to. At least, not until he moaned. She looked down, and felt extremely relieved. "Glad to see you're okay. You know, you're at least three times more attractive when you're asleep. You're quiet, and not argumentative.  
  
"Where am I? What are you doing here? Where're Harry and Hermionie?"  
  
"First question: you're right next to that giant chessboard, under the trap door. Second question: I followed the three of you to protect you. Third question: they went ahead to finish the job. Well, at least once they knew you'd be safe. Harry was awfully persistent."  
  
"You're really cold."  
  
"Well, death's cold, after a while you stop sensing it. Here, go ahead, stand up if you can. Otherwise I can carry you."  
  
He tried, but couldn't manage. She lifted him; her face was screwed up in effort. "Am I that heavy." He asked, blushing with his ears.  
  
"No, but it's hard to keep my arms solid enough to support you."  
  
"Oh." He finished, and was quiet afterward. Just as they managed to exit off of the chessboard area, Hermionie came on. She gasped when she saw Ron was gone.  
  
"Calm down, he's fine. I didn't lie. Where's Harry?"  
  
"He went on, I couldn't." Was all she said, looking down at her feet. Willow left it at that.  
  
*~* Present Time *~*  
  
Willow woke up, and hurried down to the Great Hall, not bothering to check how she looked this time.  
  
She arrived just in time. The students from the past year were just filing in.  
  
**If you enjoyed this, tell me so. If you didn't, tell me so. If you read this tell me so. Have any suggestions? Tell me so. If you're bored, please read my other works.** 


	2. Monkeyshine and Moonstruck

**Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own any characters but Willow. If I did, I wouldn't be writing my stories here would I?**  
  
Moonstruck After Death  
  
Monkeyshine and Moonstruck  
  
Willow looked up as she felt something fly past her; she could barely make out the form of a transparent Peeves. He was dropping bags of rotten vegetables and small knives that turned into feathers about half a foot away from other objects upon the students. She giggled as they screamed and shouted, jumping around and wiping vegetable juice and feathers off of their new school robes.  
  
Her eyes flew over the many people entering; she saw a few familiar faces: Hanna Abbott, Dean Thomas, Justin Finch-Flechly, Ginny Weasly, and Draco Malfoy. She grimaced as the snob's eyes met hers; she could still remember all of the horrible things he'd done to her friends. Yet, search as she might she could not find Harry, Ron, or Hermionie. So, she glided over to her favorite fifth year: Ginny Weasly. "Hey Gin."  
  
"Oh, why hello Willow." Ginny giggled as Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown were pelted by some particularly nasty tomatoes and lettuce heads; brushing it off in jerky movements accompanied by loud squeals of disgust.  
  
"It's great to see you, you look great!" Willow called giddily. Boy was she glad to be back with kids her age (sort of).  
  
"You too! Look, Willow, I've gotta' go before this gets nastier! I'll talk to you later, 'k?" She began to run off, holding up her robes and ducking her head.  
  
"GINNY!" Willow hastily called after her. Ginny turned around and made eye contact. "Where's Harry?" Ginny shrugged casually; Willow, though, wouldn't have been surprised if the world just spontaneously stopped turning and a herd of centaurs trampled her in the midst of this mob. "Ok, do you know where Ron is then?" Ginny nodded, and pointed to the doors of the great hall, where Willow just caught a glimpse of the flaming red hair as Ron made a quick exit. "THANKS GIN!" Willow waved again and noticed with some large amount of happiness that Ginny had gone off and linked hands with Colin Creevy. After that, Willow rushed out of the great hall after Ron.  
  
He was right at the bottom of the first stairwell, at the end of the hallway. "RON!" She called, speeding up. "Hey! Ron!" He just kept walking at a quick tempo, avoiding her. 'Maybe he didn't hear me,' she thought, not particularly put off. She just flew in front of him, "Hey Ron," she smiled. Ron just grimaced, and walked through her, providing them both with a rather odd sensation. She stopped, and bit her lip; what was that? Had he been crying?  
  
Without trying to talk to him again, she followed him all the way up to the Gryffindor sixth-year boy's dormitories. He jumped onto his bed and pulled the curtains closed; through them however, Willow could hear him sobbing.  
  
She crossed the room, and stood outside his bed. "Ron?" She waited a while, "Ron?" raising her voice. "Fine, I'm coming in." She glided through the curtains and sat on his bed.  
  
"What do you want?" he sobbed, not looking at her.  
  
"I want to know what's wrong."  
  
"Why?" he lifted his head, revealing puffy red patches around his eyes and nose.  
  
At first, Willow was so startled to see his face that she couldn't speak. The silence grew longer, interrupted only by Ron sniffing. "Because, I thought we were friends."  
  
"Oh, well..." he stopped and rubbed his nose. "Now I feel like a prat for getting so upset over it..."  
  
"What?" she asked, putting a ghostly cold hand on his face. He drew a sharp breath. "You could never be an idiot..." this earned her a faint smile, "now please tell me what's wrong."  
  
He just sat there for a few minutes, sniffing and looking at her like an embarrassed 6 year old. Willow really looked at him, biting her lip. Wow, he'd, well, grown a lot over the last summer. His face that had once held as many spots as it had freckles, had finally cleared up, leaving flawless slightly-tanned skin. His eyes seemed to have become brighter in the time between their past meetings; his blue eyes sparkled like sapphires. She noticed that his muscles had grown as well. Her mouth fell open, and for the death of her, she just couldn't remember how to close it.  
  
"Well, I hadn't heard from Harry or Hermione all summer, and I figured it was just nothing, that they'd just been busy. But, then when I got onto the train, I spent almost the whole entire train ride looking for them. Then I finally found them, and they were all alone in a compartment, kissing. So then, I completely freaked out, and I didn't know what to do so I just started yelling. And it turns out that Harry had been at Hermione's house this whole summer, and that they're in love, and nothing makes sense anymore. In fact, I think the world would make more sense if Draco put on a dress and ran around singing "Henry the Eighth I Am"!" And as Ron's story unfolded his tears began to flow again and his head fell onto his knees. Willow's eyes remained as saucers and her jaw stayed hanging; Ron looked up, and asked "Willow? Did you hear any of that?"  
  
Willow, still unable to remember how to close her jaw or how her vocal chords worked, simply nodded. Suddenly she shook her head and snapped out of her little trance. "Oh Ron! You're NOT being idiotic!" She threw herself at him, materializing enough to not pass through him so that she could hug him. "Oh Ron I wish I could make myself warm so that this was more comfortable on you! I'm so sorry!" She stroked the back of his red head gently. "So sorry..."  
  
Now it was Ron's turn to have saucer-eyes. He'd never really been this close to a girl before; there was his mom, Ginny, even Hermione but they weren't GIRLS. He closed his eyes and enjoyed it. He shivered and was reminded of her coldness, which in turn reminded him that she was dead; and the tears welled up in his eyes once again for some inexplicable reason. He pulled away, "Thanks Willow, for being on my side, and for caring."  
  
She looked into his eyes and sighed "I'll always care Ron."  
  
"Ron? Hey, Ron, are you in here?" Neville called into the dorm room. "Ron, Hermione and Harry sent me up here. They're really upset; they really want to talk to you. Come on Ron, what's going on. Why aren't you guys talking?" Neville sounded confused and generally concerned.  
  
"Ask them!" Ron replied, suddenly and loudly, making Willow jump.  
  
They heard a loud thump outside, obviously it'd made Neville jump too, and being Neville, of course he fell over. Willow smiled at this image. They heard Neville pick himself up and leave the room.  
  
Willow looked at Ron again and felt her chest grow colder, but she didn't know why. "Ron, for the record, I think that you should talk to them soon. You'll have to face them eventually." She gave him a small encouraging smile. "I'm going to go find them, if you need me, I won't be far." Then, on some strange impulse she leaned down and kissed his cheek. Then she quickly and silently flew through the wall that led to a drop off into the common room.  
  
Quickly she found Neville, and pretending as though she hadn't just heard him trying to talk to Ron, came up to him. "Hey Nev. You seen Harry and Hermione?"  
  
"Yeah, they're over there on the couch." He pointed, and sure enough, there they were.  
  
"Thanks Nev." She flew over to say hello. "Hey Herm, Harry. How was your summer?"  
  
"Oh, good." Hermione replied, sharing a not-to-secret smile with Harry.  
  
"So, where's Ron, you guys are usually inseparable."  
  
"Oh, we got into a bit of a spat on the train." Hermione seemed to be doing all of the talking here.  
  
"Why?" Willow pushed it.  
  
"Oh, something about being left out." Hermione said, "You know how Ron can get when he's jealous."  
  
Willow desperately wanted to slap Hermione right then and there, but decided against it. "Well it couldn't possibly have anything to do with you two 'discretely' holding hands, would it?" Willow raised her eyebrows in challenge to Hermione. "You know, for someone so smart, you really do underestimate others."  
  
**Well there we go, Chapter two, sorry for the LONG delay, but I've been trying to write a whole bunch of stories. I also had writers block for like two months straight. Hopefully that was satisfying for you. Love you lots, but I'll love you more if you review...** 


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